This introduction is not of yesterday; it is already of long date. But it may be boldly advanced that it is only since 1830 that it has been effected upon a very large scale. 1830 was the era of the systematic infusion of the English pure-blood into our French half-blood races. Having become, by this fact, less fit for service, they commenced to lose their credit in the eyes of thinking men. The rich ran after the English, while others wanted the German horse, and this made the latter’s fortune. The majority addressed themselves to Perche, and thus obliged her to multiply anew a stock already become insufficient. In Upper Perche, that is to say, towards the Norman part, in the district of Mortagne, the introduction, (we are ignorant of its cause,—perhaps from the presence of some good stallions,) was not so great; but it did, nevertheless, take place, and its traces are discovered at every step. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to find there at the present moment, a Percheron completely free from mixture of foreign blood. [Illustration: Decoration] CHAPTER VIII. STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION. As long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the diligences crossing France in every direction, it was especially a horse fit for their uses that Perche devoted itself to produce. But since these modes of transportation have been modified, the race, with them, has undergone a complete transformation. As this country only possessed, as an outlet for the light part of its stock, the expresses, omnibuses, and post-office services in the interior of Paris, and later the private post teams, etc., etc., which only employ quick-gaited horses, it became necessary to think of rendering the race heavier, in order to replace the monopoly of the mail stages and diligences by another monopoly. Had it not before it the necessity of satisfying the commercial wants—that is to say, the express cartage, the heavy work of the contractors and builders of Paris, and in the provinces, the services of the large towns, and the express and other business connected with all railroads? The fear of losing this important market offered to his qualities of speed, strength, and honesty, tempted the breeder to infuse too suddenly the blood of the heavy draft-horse. He might have accomplished this more slowly and gradually, by means of a rational coupling with the heaviest bodied native types; but our age, eager to enjoy, did not leave him the time. To answer to these new wants, Perche opened wide its doors to all the heavy mares that it could meet with. Many came from Brittany, others from Picardy and Caux, and some from Boulogne. During this time the ancient stallion of the country, eagerly sought after by all those who wished to create fine draft studs, passed into the interior and even into foreign countries.